.... which is really another way of saying there hasn't been much to do for the last couple of weeks (the installation of Project 'X' has been delayed) so there was a window in which to complete the A7 wings.

I don't quite know why it's taken me 7 years to do the job - in the end it amounted to a week's work at a fairly relaxed pace. Aside from wheeling the wings themselves, there was a bit of welding to do, a couple of stainless steel brackets to form, a splash of paint and that was that.

Drilling the holes square for the bumper bolts was a bit tricky but I took 'Sunita' down to the Post Office for a trial run; nothing fell off, no irritating rattles and no ducking flying debris! Perfect.

When I completed the Hillman Special, because I didn't have time to have laminated glass cut for the windscreens (I did really but just didn't get round to it in time for the Monaco Dash) I used instead a couple of sheets of Perspex. Almost immediately the Perspex got scratched, it went a bit grey and cloudy and driving in either rain or into a low sun it became almost impossible to see anything and I always had to look over the top of the windscreen in those conditions to avoid disaster.

With the lull in work I resolved to get the glass made up. I remembered that when I went to get the laminated glass screens for the A7, there was much sucking of teeth and reluctance to do the job because it was for a car. I popped home and wrote 'Port' and 'Starboard' on the templates thereby deflecting any unwanted inquiry from the next glass merchant I visited. That did the trick - as it did this time.

The Great Collector kindly hosted a a Rolls Royce garden party and in amongst the fairly ordinary offerings were a couple of extraordinary monsters. This first, a 1930 7.6l Phantom 1, was as long as a ship and would be excellent for long-distance touring. A tour would require very careful planning - you wouldn't want to be caught out with hairpin bends and I'm not quite sure where you'd park.

A 1973 Rolls-Royce Phantom VI Cabriolet by Frua, built for the His Excellency the Consul of Switzerland and Monaco (according to the Bonhams blurb). There was something about this very unusual body which, although the lines weren't quite right and the front was terrible, had a certain presence. It wouldn't have looked out of place on the set of 'Thunderbirds'. There was a small plaque showing the arms of the Principality of Monaco on the dash of this LHD model and a DK sticker on the back so it's been about a bit.

I suspect it might have been easier to park in Denmark than Monaco - there's a lot more space there.